Painting with your young artist
What’s the best way to facilitate a painting project with your child or student? Well, here are some general tips from Scribble for creating a beautiful painting with a young artist.
STAGGER DISTRIBUTION OF PAINT Don’t give them all the primary colors at once. Start with 2 primaries and challenge them to make new colors. Then, give them white and challenge them to make tints. Once one of the primaries is depleted, give them the other primary. For younger artists (2-5yo), if they have the 3 primaries at once, the painting will inevitably turn brown. For 6yo+, still stagger colors but also talk to them about avoiding “muddiness”. If you have more than one type of paint, use them separately so your artist can experience each paint’s unique qualities (thickness, fluidity, vibrancy, opacity).
EXPLORE A DIVERSE RANGE OF COLOR, SHAPE & LINE: When painting, encourage them to seek diversity in their technique; don’t make the paper all one color; don’t just repeat the same line or shapes; push them to explore the possibilities of what they can create.
BE DELIBERATE WHEN ADDING COLLAGE: If you’re adding collage materials on top of a painting, be creative about your compositional choices (where you place things). Maybe look for shapes that match, colors that contrast, or lines you want to trace. If you’re adding paint around or on top of collage material, paint around those objects, choose colors that relate with the object. No matter what you do, make sure that the collage & painting relate to each other.
KEEP IT ABSTRACT: I would encourage you to not start from a theme or specific subject matter when painting. Let your artists assign their own meaning. So instead of “we’re gonna make tree paintings” go with “we’re gonna make mixed-media paintings”. Focus on the material. That’s what they need to be learning about right now. If you do have a “theme” make it very general: figures, machines, animals, etc.
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